Tbilisi/Gori/Western Georgia

People have been returning to villages north of Gori in recent weeks. "The place was crowded and I missed my home," said a mother about the centre where she had been living before returning to her village. "I couldn't stand it any more. That's why I've come back, even though it isn't very safe," she added. Many people return only during daylight hours, as they do not yet feel secure enough to stay in their villages overnight.

In the buffer zone north of Gori, villagers are worried about their harvests. The area is highly fertile, and families depend on the income they earn from selling their fruit and farm produce. This year, the harvest was largely lost because of the conflict. People are now reluctant to enter their orchards and fields because of widespread unexploded ordnance (UXO). As a result, they will not only have less food for their own use during the winter, but they will also have less income. The ICRC is assessing the extent of UXO contamination.

In western Georgia, many families displaced during the conflict in Abkhazia 15 years ago are now hosting their newly displaced relatives. "I had 20 people staying here at first. Now some of them have left. But 16 years ago there were 60 people staying in my house," said the female head of a host family in western Georgia. Others who left the Kodori valley and surrounding areas during last month's conflict have moved further afield, to Kutaisi, Gori and Tbilisi.

People throughout the region are preparing for winter. Those whose houses were damaged in the conflict and its aftermath are trying to get repairs completed as soon as possible, so that they will be able to stay warm when cold weather arrives. The ICRC has begun to distribute tarpaulins and window coverings to the people who are most vulnerable. Longer-term ICRC assistance will include corrugated iron sheets for roofs.

Tskhinvali

Restoring family links between people who have been separated by the conflict is the main priority for the ICRC in Tskhinvali today. Since late August, the ICRC mission in that city has been expanding the scale and reach of its operations in South Ossetia. The ICRC now carries out a wide range of humanitarian activities in rural areas, including in the Leningori/Akhalgori region, as well as in Tskhinvali.

As autumn starts and night temperatures drop, the main concern of South Ossetia residents is the approaching winter. Much rebuilding needs to be done in Tskhinvali, and it is unclear whether central heating and gas supplies will resume in time. Effective longer-term measures must be taken rapidly in order to help the population of South Ossetia to cope with winter weather conditions.

Since the start of the conflict in early August, some 500 people have approached the ICRC in Tbilisi seeking its help in searching for missing relatives. The ICRC is working hard to provide such help whenever it can.

Many families were split up because some members left home while others stayed behind to protect their land and possessions. The ICRC is making its Red Cross message service available to the displaced so that family members can keep in touch when other means of communication are unavailable.

On 15 September, an elderly blind woman in western Georgia was transferred at her request and in agreement with the local authorities to an old persons' home in Samtredia, near Kutaisi. She had been living alone in deplorable conditions in a village close to the Inguri river. The Georgian Red Cross in Tbilisi were responsible for getting her a place in a home, and worked tirelessly to ensure that all the paperwork and other formalities were completed speedily.

Tskhinvali

Like its counterpart in Tbilisi, the ICRC team in Tskhinvali continues to receive tracing requests from people trying to locate missing family members. In rural areas, those who stayed or were left behind –many of them elderly – when other family members abandoned their villages are anxious for news. The ICRC is helping them to send Red Cross messages or to call relatives.

Families are being reunited in both Tbilisi/Gori and Tskhinvali. Since 30 August, 191 individuals, 23 of them children, have been reunited with their loved ones under ICRC auspices. "My daughter went to the seaside for summer holidays," said Madonna Gagieva, a Tskhinvali resident. "She is 14 and I could not let her travel to Tskhinvali by herself. The school year had already started and I was desperate for the ICRC to bring her back. We can't believe we are all together again."

• carries out assessments, distributes food and household items, and monitors the humanitarian situation on the ground;

• assessed the needs of over 400 displaced persons in the town of Sachkhere on 11 September. The Turkish Red Crescent and the local community provided them with food and household items;

• distributed food to 165 people living in collective centres and war-damaged houses in Senaki. In addition, it distributed tarpaulins to people with war-damaged homes;

• supported care providers from the Red Cross in Abkhazia who delivered hygiene items and personal-care services to over 200 beneficiaries of the home assistance programme. The care providers also made many home visits to vulnerable people in Sukhumi, Ochamchira, Eshera, and Gudauta, helping them with shopping and housework.

In Tbilisi/Gori, the ICRC:

• distributed rice and food parcels to over 11,000 beneficiaries in late September. This completed the second round of emergency food distributions in villages north of Gori. A longer-term programme to provide food and other items will run from November 2008 to March 2009;

• assessed the situation of villages north of Agara on 12 September. ICRC water and sanitation, health, economic security and protection delegates found problems similar to those encountered in villages north of Gori. Villagers confirmed that the ICRC was the first humanitarian organization they had seen since the conflict began in August;

• distributed essential items to 67 displaced families living in collective centres in Khashuri, west of Gori, on 16 September;

• upgraded seven collective centres for the displaced in Tbilisi. Toilets were installed, water supplies reconnected and sewage disposal organized.

• carried out its first assessment in the Leningori/Alkhalgori region on 16 September;

• assessed people's needs and delivered aid to residents in Tskhinvali and in rural areas. As the rainy season began, it distributed over 500 tarpaulins over the last three weeks to residents of war-damaged homes. This is obviously a short-term solution; large-scale reconstruction projects are needed;

• provided socially vulnerable Tskhinvali residents – those living in old persons' homes and in drug and alcohol rehabilitation centres – with essential items. Over 1,700 vulnerable pensioners received hygiene kits;

• improved the water supply and sanitary conditions of Tskhinvali's main hospital. This involved installing water tanks on each floor. The ICRC is also helping the hospital to dispose of medical waste safely. With the resumption of water and electricity supplies, hospital staff were once again able to sterilize medical instruments and linen.

The ICRC has started a campaign in and around Tskhinvali to inform residents – children in particular – of the dangers posed by mines and UXO. It has also produced signs that mark contaminated areas. In addition, ICRC staff have been assessing the extent of UXO contamination in villages between Gori and Tskhinvali and distributing awareness leaflets.

Medical services continuing in the buffer zone

Local medics working alongside the Norwegian Red Cross/ICRC mobile medical unit continue to travel daily into the buffer zone. As local medical services resume operations, however, the number of locations to be visited weekly by the mobile unit will be reduced. The unit has carried out over 3,000 consultations since it began operating in the buffer zone on 28 August.

• Red Cross Society of Georgia: Twenty-five volunteers from the Rustavi chapter helped to distribute beds, sheets, pillows, blankets, towels and carpets, together with 100 food parcels, to displaced families living in collective centres and in a camp in Rustavi. These items formed part of a 91-metric-tonne consignment of relief items sent to Georgia by the Kuwait Red Crescent Society.

• Georgian Red Cross staff and volunteers organized a social event in the tented camp in Gori, where thousands of displaced people are waiting to return to their villages in the buffer zone when the security situation improves. The event provided welcome relief for families suffering post-traumatic stress in the wake of last month's conflict. A similar event was held for children on 18 September.

• A psycho-social programme for children run by the Georgian Red Cross will start shortly in the Gori camp. The Italian Red Cross has provided a large tent for volunteers of the Gori chapter of the Georgian Red Cross to support their youth activities.

• The International Federation and the ICRC have agreed to harmonize their efforts and those of the Georgian Red Cross to meet the needs of the displaced through first aid, disaster management and psycho-social support.

• The Italian Red Cross soup kitchen in the Gori camp run by UNHCR has produced over 200,000 meals since it opened on 2 September. Georgian Red Cross volunteers help to prepare and distribute the meals. Joint teams of Georgian Red Cross volunteers and Italian Red Cross staff also transport and distribute meals to displaced persons in nearly 30 collective centres daily in Gori and Tbilisi.

• The ICRC has distributed over 3,500 jerrycans donated by theFrench Red Cross in 24 collective centres in Tbilisi and Gori, and in 19 villages in Shida Kartli, Poti Chuberi, and Khashuri districts. Over 930 tarpaulins have also been distributed in collective centres in Tbilisi and Gori.

• A large Swiss Red Cross donation of mattresses is currently being distributed in eight collective centres.